Baker's secret is a piece of cake

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While the temperature may not always seem like it, fall is here. And with it comes my urge to bake.

Cookies are generally a favorite, but sometimes those can be so labor intensive. All the batches and baking sheets get to be too much with a toddler running around the house.

And where I used to shy away from cakes, now I am all about them. One baking pan, one cooking time, no batches. I want to be able to put one thing in the oven and then enjoy it for a few days, share it with family or bring it to work to make colleagues salivate.

It was with the idea of sharing it that I decided on a zucchini cake recipe written on an index card that I found tucked into the back of cookbook that I had bought at a used book store.

I had no idea whose recipe it was or where it came from, but the well-worn look of the card made me think it must be good. It sure looked like someone had been making it a lot.

The recipe, for zucchini cake with pecans and chocolate chips, sounded tasty enough, but I still felt the need to tinker. Instead of the pecans, I decided to use pistachios since I already had some.

While I was at it, I opted to supplement the cinnamon in the recipe with some nutmeg. And since my taste buds lean toward dark chocolate, I used semi-sweet chocolate chips instead of milk chocolate chips.

Most of the ingredients are pantry staples in my house. Yes, even the chocolate chips. So it was easy enough to put this together after just having to pick up some fresh zucchini.

Baking has become a fun process in our house recently. Every time I get out the mixer and turn it on, 2-year-old Ben wants to know what I am making and how he can help.

And since he is fascinated by numbers right now, it was perfect to have him help measure out ingredients as we got ready to put together our cake batter. Of course there was a little sampling as we went, with him having to make sure the chocolate chips with chocolatey enough and that the pistachios were up to his standards.

Once we had all our ingredients prepped, it was simply a matter of mixing. Well, and then waiting for it to bake and cool.

Once it was cooled, the cake was taste-tested. It was firm, yet moist. There was a nice spice from the cinnamon and nutmeg. The crunch from the pistachios was perfect. And the chocolate chips made it just rich enough to satisfy as a dessert.

As we shared our piece of cake, Ben smiled. “I made cake!” he said.

“Yes, you did. And it is delicious,” I told him.

Part of me was wondering about the person who had made that cake before us, and who got to share it with them. Part of me was just happy they had shared it with us, even if by accident.

Zucchini cake with pistachios and chocolate chips

Yield: 8-10 servings

2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 large eggs, at room temperature

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon nutmeg

2 cups grated zucchini

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

3/4 cup shelled pistachios pieces

Procedure:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly coat a 3-quart bundt pan with butter or oil, then dust with flour.

2. In a large bowl, beat butter, brown sugar and vanilla on high until well-mixed, about 4 minutes. With mixer reduced to medium, add eggs one at a time and beat until well-mixed. Once all eggs are added, beat about 2 minutes more until smooth, scraping down sides of bowl as needed.

4. With mixer set to low, slowly add the remaining flour mixture to the egg mixture, and mix until just combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.

5. Once you have a thick batter, gently fold the zucchini mixture into the batter until combined.

6. Spoon the batter into the prepared bundt pan and smooth it with a spatula. Bake on middle rack for 25 minutes then rotate the pan. Bake another 20-25 minutes until a tester comes out clean and the sides start to pull away from the pan.

7. Cool cake for 30 minutes in a pan before turning it out on a rack to continue cooling.

Cook's notes: I like pistachios in this cake, but walnuts or pecans would work as well.

For the brown sugar, I like Trader Joe's brown sugar. It is on the darker side and has a strong, almost molasses-like flavor. If you don't like that flavor, just use light brown sugar.

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